Spartans: Reborn
by Reaper10119
Summary: The Human-Covenant war is over, and after trading some tech with The Arbiter, the UNSC manages to revive a portion of the Spartan II's killed during augmentation. Now they're joining up with Blue Team; Will venture through the four years between Halo 3 and Halo 4, the events of Halo 4, and the Spartan Ops missions. Original Characters, Blue Team, Spartan IV's, and others.
1. Chapter 1

**Here we go! a second project for me to work on yay! lol. Partially inspired by reading "Blue 4" by firewolf. Liked the concept and wanted to put my own spin on it. Please read and review! This will take place right after the end of the Human-Covenant war, and lead up to and during the events of Halo 4 and the Spartan Ops series.**

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Levi-064 Woke to bright white lights. He lifted his head off the bed, ignoring the pain throbbing through his whole body. He was in a small medical bay with two other people. He tried to think through the haze. He finally managed to remember their names. Jake-003 and Marcus-097.

"You're awake! Wonderful!" A female medical technician said as she walked in the door. She had a data pad in her hand, and he assumed it was monitoring his vitals, which were all on a large screen to his left.

"Did it work? Where are the others?" He groaned out, before laying his head back and closing his eyes.

"Yes and no. You and your two friends here were part of the 30 who died during the original augmentations. Your bodies were put in storage for when we could bring you back. At the present, you three were the only ones we had the means to restore." The woman explained, carefully monitoring his vitals. The door opened again and two marines walked into the room.

"So are we Spartans? Did the augmentations work this time?" Levi asked hoarsely. He couldn't see, but the woman smiled.

"Yes. The augmentations worked this time. And since you were deceased, we were able to complete the neural interface and all the injections with you barely resuscitated, so you shouldn't remember the pain like the others."

"So, how long were we dead? Are any of the others still alive?"

"About twenty eight years. You missed the war. But don't worry, they have plans for you. As for the others, some of them are still alive. But you'll learn of that later. Get some rest now." The woman hit a button, and immediately Levi felt the sedatives rushing in his veins.

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Two months later, and the three reborn Spartans were entirely up to speed on the events that had transpired while they were dead and in storage. They had all finished training together and were in MJOLNIR armor suits that had been specifically tailored to their skills in the field, Marcus in tan bulky armor trimmed in white that everyone referred to as Warrior armor, Jake was wearing Aviator class armor in the color of the classic Spartan armor olive green, and Levi was in black Wetwork armor trimmed in dark red. Levi and Jake traded discreet looks. They were standing here in this park on a military base outside of New Phoenix, waiting for a group of their old comrades who would be coming and recruiting two of them onto their team. The other would be assigned to scut work for the politicians as a show puppet or a body guard or something else. And both he and Jake were hoping it would be Marcus who ended up being the odd man out. Levi thought this was a little ridiculous, having them wait in a park when the team had already picked. They were just here to receive the news. They saw the three blue armored Spartans approaching and immediately stood at attention.

"At ease Spartans." One in extremely bulky armor said.

"This is so weird. I can't believe their not dead anymore. It's… amazing. But look at them. They're still teenagers." Kelly whispered over their private team channel so the three once dead Spartans can't hear. Linda's green light flashed once in agreement.

"You two never told me which of them you wanted on the team." Fred remarked.

"I thought it would be obvious. Everyone always liked Levi; he was always so laid back and calm. Plus he was a damn good infiltration and assassination expert. And Jake could fly or drive anything you threw at him. Marcus was always a big bully and was only good at being muscle. We have you for that." Kelly answered. Linda again flashed her green light to agree.

"Alright. We decided that Jake and Levi would be the most useful additions to our team. We're sorry Marcus, but don't worry. The UNSC has already found an extremely useful job for you. A team will be along to brief you and escort you to the ship you'll be serving on. Levi, Jake, come with us." Fred said. He turned on his heel and trudged off, Kelly, Linda, and the two newest recruits to blue team in tow, Leaving Marcus alone and fuming mad that he hadn't been picked to join the team.

"Can I fly?" Jake asked as they climbed into a pelican.

"Why are you asking that?" Fred wondered.

"Because that's my specialty? And I want to make sure I'm not rusty. It has been, what, twenty eight years since I've had the chance." The young Spartan asked. Fred shrugged, but nodded his head. Jake cheered in delight and bolted for the cockpit.

"Are you sure that's a good idea? I mean, neither of our new teammates have ANY mission experience yet. Plus, they're so young! They're basically still fourteen!" Kelly asked over the private com line the older members of Blue team still had to themselves.

"You forget that's when we first started doing missions. And they went through two months of training to get caught up to speed with us. A few weeks aboard the _Infinity_ and we can have them trained with the hand motions and tactics we developed after they died, and they'll be back in the team like the old days. Just think of them as your long lost little brothers." Fred said.

"I think you two are forgetting the biggest problem. It's been over twenty eight years since we rode a pelican flown by Jake, but I still remember the terror of the death defying trips piloted by him. And by the looks of Levi being strapped down tight as hell in his seat, I'm sure he remembers." Linda stated as she strapped herself in. Fred and Kelly traded looks, knowing each other's horrified faces even though they were hidden behind their visors. The two quickly strapped themselves down in their seats as the pelican took off. The four Spartans in the rear compartment of the drop-ship held on for dear life during the flight to the _Infinity._

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**Thus ends the prologue! Please read and review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Here's the next installment! sorry about the wait. Just wasn't able to get it quite how I wanted it. Soooo... on with the story! Read, review, and most of all... ENJOY!**

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"Levi do you have visual on the target?" Kelly's voice crackled over the speaker. Levi flashed his green light in response.

"You can't be that close that radio contact would get you into trouble. Use your words." Jake joked from the platform he was standing on above the dark forested box canyon they were in. He was waiting by a banshee for the orders to take to the skies.

"Shut it." Fred ordered. He was at the back of the box canyon in a crappy bunker by himself, since Kelly and Linda had run off into the forest after Levi before night had fallen. The leader of blue team was contemplating why he was alone defending their flag when a burst of gunfire rang through the canyon.

"Status?" He called, counting the four green lights from the rest of his team.

"It was Levi. He took out a two man patrol." Linda called. Levi sent another green light to confirm her claim, before he slipped out of the cover of the trees and towards the base. He quickly scaled up the outside wall of the bunker and tackled the sentry on the roof to the ground, driving a knife into his visor. He dropped a smoke and flash-bang grenade down into the bunker and jumped off the backside of the bunker. He shot a guard posted outside the back entrance and ran off to hide behind a cluster of rocks.

"Kelly now!" Linda said as she shot a few of the soldiers rushing after Levi.

"You too Jake. Bring the rain." Fred ordered. While Levi was distracting the members of the other base, Kelly ran from the trees and into the front door of the bunker. There was only one guard left behind, and she shot him in the back with her SMG. She grabbed the red flag from the base and rushed back out the door and into the trees. Jake flew the banshee over the soldiers and sprayed them with fire from the airships guns. Levi heard the click of a gun and slowly turned around to see someone holding a magnum aimed at him.

"You hotshots may have won this time. But I'm taking you down." She growled. Levi smirked behind his visor. He carefully shifted his own pistol in his hand, being careful to hide the slight movement.

"So you think." He muttered before throwing the gun at her and sidestepping as she fired. He rushed forward and tackled her to the ground. With her dazed, he reached for the pistol and pried it from her hands. He pulled the trigger just before Kelly had entered their base. The canyon disappeared, and Blue team blinked as they were brought out of the war games simulation.

"Your perfect streak is going to end sooner or later. And I swear I will be on the team that does it." Commander Palmer growled as she and her fifteen Spartan IVs walked out of the room.

"Good job blue team. Perfect execution of the plan." Fred congratulated his team. Levi and Jake smiled at the praise.

"Three weeks and you two are working like you've been in the field with us for forever." Kelly said happily. They all walked out and headed for the bay where there armor would be removed. They each broke into their own conversations, with Linda and Kelly giving advice to Levi on his weaknesses they had witnessed as they watched him lead the assault and Fred lecturing Jake on keeping the com chatter down when in the field. The doors slid open and the group waltzed into the room, ignoring the stares from the Spartan IVs who were having their armor removed. Levi and Jake subtly nodded at the others as the older Spartans entered their armor bays and the two younger Spartans continued out of the room, down a hall, and into the private armor bays reserved for them. Command wanted them to keep the knowledge of having so young soldiers from the Spartan IV's for as long as possible. They even went so far as to have Blue teams quarters kept close to the armor bays and made off limits to anyone who wasn't on the team.

"It's ridiculous we get hidden away like this." Jake grumbled.

"It's only until the IVs see how good we are in the field. That way they don't have any reason to refuse to work with us." Levi explained. He didn't admit that he felt the same way. They had dominated the war games since arriving on the ship; Blue team didn't have a single death in the simulations against the Spartan IVs. The armor machine stopped spinning around him as his armor was fully removed and he stepped off the platform.

"That's what they say now. And then after we do get some field experience they'll change their reasons to something else and so on." Jake continued.

"There's no other reasons. We look older than our age. And younger. Is our actual age how old we are counting back to our birthdays or how many years we've been alive? That still confuses me." Levi started to think about the confusing topic. Then stopped himself. That wouldn't get him any answers about anything, and would just lead to a headache. The two of them exited out the back door of their armor bay and went to relax in Blue teams rec room. Fred, Kelly, and Linda joined them soon afterwards.

"So, good news guys. We're on our way to deal with some Covenant rebel forces who want to restart the war. Looks like you two will be getting some field experience in a couple days." Fred said to them. Levi and Jake traded looks. It looked like one of them would be proven right soon after all.

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**So. What kind of terrain do you want them to first fight the covenant on? Aboard a covenant cruiser? on a desert? In a canyon? Whatever you think, let me know! **


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry for the late upload. Was having serious writers block for this story. Just couldn't get it the way I wanted. But here it is! Again, sorry for the long wait! Enjoy!**

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"Please tell me you're joking. I don't want my first field mission to start and end with me dying." Levi asked as he looked at the form of transportation they were going to use to get to the first point on their mission; a Covenant outpost holding the Intel for where the Spartan IV's would need to be deployed.

"They're not that bad. You'll be fine." Fred told him.

"You ride with Jake then."

"I'm not in the mood for falling off anything today."

"…my point exactly…" Levi grumbled. He climbed onto the side of one of the Hornets and held onto the hand hold firmly.

"I promise no unnecessary maneuvers." Jake said as he climbed into the cockpit.

"Why aren't we taking a Pelican down?" He asked as the Hornet hummed to life, along with the one nearby that was being piloted by Fred, with Kelly and Linda on the sides.

"Because we want a bit more of a subtle insertion." Fred sighed.

"I lived!" Levi cheered as the Hornets landed in an orange rocked canyon. He looked at the bent and crushed handle he had been holding onto.

"Told you you'd be fine." Fred said.

"Alright, team. The Covenant are holed up on the other side of this canyon, in a cave protected from above by a rock overhang and with a shield generator in the cave if they see an attack coming. The Intel we need is at the back of the cave, so we need to get in their without getting noticed. Linda, do what you do best." She nodded and took off at a trot to climb up and get a good view of the canyon.

"Levi, you make your way along the outside and sneak in; once you're in you can destroy the shield generator and the rest of us can come back you up. Until then we will deal with the patrols and sentries." Fred finished. Levi nodded before activating his armors camo. He disappeared, the distortion the only visible sign of his presence. He jogged along past and through several large rock formations until he saw a group of six grunts following three jackals. He transmitted an amber light to inform them he had found hostiles, followed by a green one to ask if he should engage. A red light from Fred informed him not to. He shrugged and continued along. He saw two more packs of grunts and jackals, along with a pair of elites on ghosts that were speeding off towards where they had landed the Hornets.

"Elites en route to our LZ. And may I say they are way uglier than the holograms we saw in our catch up lessons." Levi said. He rounded a boulder to see the base, there were several turrets set up in between the purple metal barricades, with several of the various alien races milling about. Atop the overhang stood three of the birdlike jackals. He climbed up and slunk behind the one in the middle. He swept its legs out from under it and drove a knife down into its skull. As the other two turned to see the commotion he threw the knife into the one on his rights chest, and ran for the one on the left. It let out a horrible screeching noise as he grabbed its neck and flipped it over his shoulder onto its back. He quickly drove his backup knife into its face to silence the noise. Two rifle cracks echoed throughout the canyon. He jumped off the overhang and landed on the back of an elite. He snapped its neck and bolted behind the barricades just in time; the shield shimmering on behind him. He started firing with his assault rifle on the forces inside the barricade. He saw an elite aiming a giant gun at him. He jumped behind one of the nearby weapon crates, barely avoiding the blob of exploding green energy that rushed from the gun. He primed one of the plasma grenades from the crate as he spun from cover in a crouch. The glowing blue sphere connected with the large gun. The elite had just enough time to howl in rage before it was engulfed in the explosion.

"Well those are useful grenades." Levi remarked as two more elites emerged from deeper in the cave; they started yelling at the grunts who were running around in a panic.

"Get the barrier down!" Fred's voice crackled over the radio. Levi glanced behind him to see Kelly and Jake driving around on commandeered ghosts, cleaning up the forces that hadn't gotten behind the barrier. Fred was in a fist fight with an elite, and by the looks of it he was winning.

"There are two of those big bastards in the way. Give me a minute." Levi remarked. He spun out from cover again as his shields finished recharging and unloaded on the elites, one of whom was within arm's reach. As his gun clicked empty and the elites prepared to fire, he grabbed the nearby one. He held it in front of him and smirked behind his visor as the elite roared in pain; the plasma from its ally ripping through its armor and into flesh. He drew his magnum and unloaded the clip into the elites face. Levi slammed another clip into the magnum and holstered it, extending the motion to pick up his dropped assault rifle. The high pitched voices of grunts started to yell and he turned to see a group of them charging at him with arms waving in the air, glowing plasma grenades in hand.

"Crazy bastards!" he cursed and dove away. One of the grunts tripped and soon plasma engulfed the group.

"You still alive in there?" Kelly's worried voice asked. She received a green status light as Levi stood up and loaded another clip into his rifle before he latched it behind him and walked up to the terminal.

"Shield coming down in three…two…one…done." He said as his hands worked across the terminal. Three red lights winked on his HUD from Fred. He turned to look in the cave opening to see three black armored elites holding glowing blue swords. Levi backpedaled out into the open; the elites following him with confident growls. They started to lunge forward, Levi activating his camo and leaping to one side. Before the elites could turn to attack him again three loud rifle cracks resounded through the canyon and they all fell to the ground.

"Thanks, Linda." He said as he stood up and deactivated the camo. She sent him a green light. Kelly walked up to him and spun two fingers in the air. He slowly turned around as she inspected his armor.

"You're all good." Kelly remarked. He nodded his thanks.

"Linda, stay here and keep an eye the canyon. Let us know if any reinforcements show up." Fred ordered before leading them into the cave. Levi scooped up one of the energy swords and clipped it to his right leg, intrigued by the weapon. Kelly moved up and took point.

"How'd you get the ghosts?" Levi asked Jake as they trekked.

"Fred and I stood atop one of the larger rock formations and Kelly went out to get their attention, and then ran back and we jumped on as they chased after her." Levi laughed a little; apparently aliens were as gullible as the Spartan IV's when it came to their traps. Kelly held up her hand and slowly made a fist. Levi, Jake, and Fred all froze in place. She continued to signal, informing them that there were three elites ahead. Levi signaled to ask if he should move up, and Fred nodded. He cloaked and crept around the corner, seeing two elite guards holding carbines and one working on a computer terminal. He crept up behind the one on the terminal and waited a few seconds until Fred flashed him a green light. He stepped on the back of the elite's leg to boost himself up, then reached around and snapped its head to the side. Its neck shattered, he threw the body to the ground as a burst of gunfire sounded behind him. He turned to see Fred standing over one of the guards with its chest crushed under his boot, and Kelly over the other with its head oozing blood from the holes made by her SMG.

"Kelly, get the Intel." Fred ordered.

"Yes sir." She nodded and moved up to the terminal. After five minutes she had extracted all the data into a crystal and stored it into her armor.

"_Infinity_, this is Sierra one-zero-four. We have the data, where to now?" Fred said. He led the way up and back out of the cave.

"We have established a FOB not too far from your location. Sending coordinates now." A voice responded. A NAV marker appeared on all of their HUDs. Kelly armed a grenade and tossed it by the shield generator as they exited from the overhang and jogged towards the Hornets. Linda was already sitting on one waiting.

"Any chance of-"Levi started.

"No. Now sit down." Fred interrupted. Levi scowled behind his visor, but did as instructed. The Hornets were quickly in the air and making their way to their destination.

"Next time we have to fly without a pelican, we take one of those, not one of these. Looks much less capable of sending us plummeting to our death." Levi remarked. They had landed in the grassy fields near the large and quickly erected base, and were walking past a group of Falcons parked outside the base.

"We'll see what happens." Fred said, before leading his team into the base. In the command room there were several people running around and yelling orders at one another, with Commanders Lasky and Palmer standing over a table displaying the terrain of multiple target locations. Jake, Kelly, Linda, and Levi all saluted as Fred walked up and started investigating their plans.

"I take it your mission was a success then, Commander?" Lasky asked him.

"Yes." Kelly stepped forward and handed him the data, which was then inserted into the table.

"This confirms what we already believed." Lasky said as the map showed a large network of narrow canyons that led through a mountain range to a valley that showed a forerunner structure that looked as if it was being fortified with Covenant forces and equipment.

"That's where one of Mdama's lieutenants will be." Palmer remarked at the structure.

"Agreed. Commander Palmer, ready your best Spartan IV's to lead the assault through this main route. Fred, you should take Blue team through these smaller canyons and come out behind the structure here. The enemy forces will be busy with Palmer's IV's and provide you the chance to sneak in the back door and capture their leader." Lasky ordered.

"With all due respect, my Spartans-"

"Don't have nearly as much experience in the field as the veterans on Blue team, and haven't been able to kill their new hands in the War Games. They're better suited for it and you know it." Lasky interrupted. Palmer scowled at him, but didn't argue further.

"We'll gather our gear and get ready to head out then." Fred said before leading his team out of the room and to the base's armory. They refilled their ammo and switched some of their weaponry. Levi magnetized a sniper rifle to his back, and Kelly switched her assault rifle for a battle rifle. Fred added a Spartan laser to back up his SAW. Jake and Linda both kept their gear the same, Battle rifle and shotgun for him; sniper rifle and assault rifle for her.

"I'm thinking Levi's want for the Falcon is a good idea for this trip. Jake can fly overhead and give Linda a good vantage point while the rest of us clear the canyons on foot." Fred remarked.

"That'll be fun. And I can keep more rounds with me." Linda remarked tossing ammo clips into a duffel bag.

"Good. Then let's get our hands on one. They looked fun to fly." Jake smirked. Everyone geared; they made their way to one of the Falcons and sat down, waiting for their mission to start.


	4. Chapter 4

"This is much better than the Hornet." Levi remarked as they were approaching the canyons. He was sitting next to Linda in the Falcon, each looking out one side with their rifles, with Fred and Kelly both manning the machine guns.

"I agree the controls are a lot smoother. Can we commandeer one of these to our personal transport gear? I bet I could make this girl a lot better with some upgrades." Jake said from the pilot's seat.

"We capture this hinge-head and I bet you can have your pick." Fred laughed. Soon the Falcon was hovering over the beginning of the canyon.

"Let's get this done. If it's not human, shoot it." Fred said. He, Kelly, and Levi hopped off the Falcon, which rose back up into the sky and hovered overhead. Levi jogged slightly ahead and effortlessly scaled a rock formation.

"You taught him that parkour stuff you love didn't you?" Fred asked Kelly as they started into the canyon.

"I might have. It's useful." Kelly smirked back.

"Never said it wasn't. I just don't ever remember him climbing stuff with finesse, he used to just tackle it and climb." Fred said between the cracks of rifle fire.

"Think they'll leave us anything to shoot?" He added. He noticed the little twitch of her head that showed she had rolled her eyes.

"You've got Linda with a perfect vantage point and a lot of ammo, and Levi who's been acting like he has something to prove since he missed all those years and the war. We'll be lucky if we even get the chance to take aim at something." Kelly laughed. There was the hiss of a Beam rifle followed by a crack from overhead.

"How did you NOT see that shot Levi? It was right in front of you?" Linda's teasing clicked over the radio.

"Those bird things are good at being hard to see. I was focusing on the elites yelling at one another with their swords out." Levi responded sheepishly.

"Ooh, good catch. I think they're going to fight one another. Make sure to record it, spooks would like to see that." Fred shook his head, but did agree Linda was right; ONI spooks loved getting footage of Covenant races interacting with one another over the aliens trying to kill humans. They had almost three decades worth of footage for that. Levi's rifle cracked and he laughed.

"Congratulations on winning your fight. The reward was a nice bullet."

The canyon was soon cleared, with Kelly's prediction proving true. Two more canyons followed, with those proving more challenging to clear. The quantity of forces was much larger, with high amounts of elites. But even they couldn't stop Blue team, Linda and Levi destroying them from afar; Kelly rabbiting them into a line of fire to be torn apart by Fred's SAW. And the two times high troop counts and poor positioning slowed them down, Jake was able to destroy with the Falcon's Auto cannon. As the three ground-born Spartans started to walk down the path, Fred suddenly stopped and shoved them behind a boulder. Levi looked at him quizzically as he readied his Spartan laser and stepped out from behind the boulder. Knowing Levi would want to see, Linda linked her armors camera view to his HUD, which suddenly depicted two large, lumbering behemoths with quivering quills jutting from their backs, and bodies covered in a dark blue metal. The aerial view showed them facing away from Fred, who had the laser targeted on ones back and charging. There was a red flash and the first beast crumpled. The second turned, holding its shielded limb in front of itself and the canon arm started to glow green. Linda shot at the red-orange in-between metal plates, and it turned to face the flying machine. Fred fired with the laser again, and the second Hunter fell. Levi blinked rapidly as the camera feed ended and he was suddenly looking at his own surroundings.

"Fred, the IV's look to be having some trouble across the valley. Permission to go provide air support?" Jake asked.

"Granted. Linda, provide some more cover for the IV's." Fred responded. He then led Kelly and Levi into the valley and down to the Forerunner spire, onto the field where the Covenant forces had their empty vehicles.

A pair of elites roared, their three jackal minions and five grunts turning to face the invaders. Kelly ran forward and sidestepped behind the jackals shields, and shot the trio with her SMGs. Levi snatched the pistol and energy sword from his legs, and faced the elites.

"Defiler!" One roared and charged at him. Levi sliced with the blade, cleaving the hinge head from left shoulder to right hip. Levi started to circle with the second one, garbed in black armor, holding its own energy sword. The elite lunged forward with its blade. Levi deflected the blade and threw an upper cut into the elites jaw. It howled, and slashed at his midsection. He fell backwards onto his back to avoid the blade, and swiped upward with his own blade, slicing off the elite's hand holding the blade. It roared in pain, and jumped on Levi, Jaws opening wide in a growl before his visor. Levi watched the elite's remaining hand materialize a smaller energy blade, a dagger, which it started to plummet down towards his chest. Levi wrapped his arm around the elite's limb, forcing the blade to descend into the ground beside him. The energy dagger spliced through his armor and burned through a small part of his side. Levi groaned at the pain, but managed to punch the elite in the face and push it off him. As Levi started to climb to his feet he saw Fred lower the muzzle of his SAW to the elites head and pull the trigger. Levi looked behind his leader, where the grunts all lay dead in a pile.

"You okay?" Fred asked as he handed Levi his dropped pistol and energy sword. Levi nodded his wince of pain as he walked over to Kelly going unnoticed under his visor. At an unspoken word, Kelly pulled a can of bio foam out and inserted it into his wound. A light hiss escaped Levi's lips as the foam filled the injury.

"Kelly, stand guard over their vehicles here. If we don't grab their leader this will be the first place he runs to." Fred ordered. Kelly nodded.

"Have we gotten our hands on that arm blade tech yet?" Levi asked and nodded towards the dead elite.

"No, we haven't. Good catch." Fred said. Kelly started pulling the armor segment as Fred led Levi into the Forerunner spire.

"I've got a bad feeling about this. We're walking into an ambush." Fred said as the two of them stepped onto an elevator up to the next level.

"So it's not just me then." Levi remarked. He glanced at the ammo counter on his assault rifle. He didn't want to walk into a trap with only half a clip of ammo. The doors slid open before them to a room fool of thirteen elites. Twelve were garbed in either red or blue armor, and one was in glistening gold armor with a protrusion from the forehead. They were huddled around a holo-table projecting the battle going on outside. As the doors slid open the elites turned to see the Spartans take aim and fire on them. The gold armored elite roared something and made his way to a secondary elevator that went back down the spire.

"Levi, follow him! We need him alive!" Fred ordered. Levi slid his assault rifle on his back neck to his sniper rifle and ran past the elites that were still trading shots with Fred. He rammed into the doors of the elevator shaft, which crumpled under the weight and force of the armor clad Spartan. Levi plummeted down the shaft and landed on the platform with a loud groan. The elite looked at him with what almost looked like surprise. It laughed their races disturbing laugh as it pulled Levi up into the air, his feet dangling as his visor became eye level with the elite.

"You die now, demon." The elite spat. Its right hand activated its energy sword. Levi snatched the sword from his side and powered it on, cutting off this elites hand as well. It roared in pain and dropped him to the ground as the platform stopped. The elite ran out of the spire and started down one of the ramps to the field below. Levi forced himself up to his feet and sprinted after, ignoring the pain from his side and muscles from the fall.

"I wonder if lopping off hands is going to become a habit." He mused as he followed the elite outside. It was headed for a phantom, and Kelly was on the other side of the field, not nearly close enough even for her speed to reach him in time. Levi groaned and sprinted across the raised portion of the spire exterior. He jumped from the platform as the phantom rose from the ground. His knife dug into the hull and he slid down to the back to where the engine was. He grabbed one of the plasma grenades from his belt and armed it. The glowing sphere connected inside the engine, and exploded. The phantom tilted to the side and started to plummet from the sky.

"Son of a bitch." He groaned just before the phantom crashed into the nearby mountainside.

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**Hope you enjoyed! FYI, the energy dagger is the one used in Halo: Reach by elites in assassination animations. I will take tech from that game, but never lore since its a ret con of the pre-established book lore, and Bunji even said so. anyway, enjoy the cliff hanger! Bwahahahha... thats almost literal.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Here's the next chapter! sorry it is a bit on the short side. but I like to change up the lengths. Enjoy!**

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Kelly saw their target enter a phantom, and saw it take to the air. She ran for a banshee in an attempt to chase after. Just as she was starting to climb into a banshee she saw Levi on the back of the alien vehicle, and then she saw it plummeting from the air and crash into the mountainside. She flew to the crash site in the banshee and jumped out, looking into the burning wreckage. The elite emerged from the wreckage, limping slowly. She drew her pistol and shot him in the leg. The elite howled and fell to the ground. That's when she noticed his missing hand, the grey skin charred as if recently burned or cauterized. Fred came jogging down.

"What happened?"

"Levi jumped on his phantom and blew one of the engines. It crashed. I'm going to look for Levi. His vitals are still active." Kelly sprinted into the wreckage and started moving the remnants. She lifted several pieces of metal, and found him unconscious. She lifted him up over her shoulder and walked back to Fred.

"His vitals are showing severe internal bleeding." Kelly said. She pulled a can of Bio Foam out and inserted it into an armor port to help stop up the wound.

"Jake, we're going to need you to get here and transport Levi back to the FOB for some medical attention." Fred sent him a NAV point to their location.

"On our way."

"_Infinity_, this is Sierra One-zero-four. We have the target and need a Pelican for extraction and transport." Fred called in.

"Affirmative, Spartan. Transport is en route." A female voice responded. Fred looked up to see the Falcon landing.

"Linda, I need you to help me protect our prize while we wait for transport. Kelly, you make sure Levi doesn't fall off the Falcon on your way back to the base." Fred ordered.

"Don't you want me to help protect the prisoner?"

"Yeah, but I need someone to keep an eye on Levi. You're definitely the best with the medical equipment out of the five of us." Fred said. He bumped her shoulder, their signal to relax.

"Alright. I'll see you soon." Kelly said as she climbed onto the Falcon next to Levi once they had loaded him on. She turned back to Fred to see him swipe two fingers across his faceplate. She returned the gesture as the Falcon took to the skies.

There were medics waiting when they handed at the FOB. Kelly helped them load Levi onto a gurney as Jake climbed out of the cockpit and they followed the medics into the base and to the infirmary. Kelly noticed Palmer reclining against one wall, watching medics work on a pair of her Spartan IV's. A group of techs started removing Levi's armor as they moved him onto an official work table.

"What the hell? How is he a Spartan II? I'm not even sure he looks old enough to be enlisted, let alone old enough to be one of you." Palmer said. She had walked over and seen the helmet pulled off of Levi.

"Technically, he's forty-two just like the rest of us." Kelly said.

"Get back! We need more room!" a medic scolded. Jake, Kelly, and Palmer retreated back against the wall.

"How does he look so young? The rest of you don't look like that." Palmer asked. Jake looked at Kelly, silently asking if he could remove his helmet. She nodded. He pulled his helmet off and held it by his hip.

"Technically, he's fourteen as well." Kelly said.

"How the hell!? You can't enlist until you're eighteen." Palmer growled.

"It's common knowledge in a lot of groups now, so I don't see why you shouldn't know. Spartan II's were conscripted at the age of six, and we trained for eight years until we were augmented when we were fourteen. Thirty of us died during the augmentation. Levi and Jake were both in those thirty. With some tech we traded from The Arbiter, they were able to resuscitate them as full Spartans." Kelly whispered.

"They didn't want your Spartans to know till after we had shown you our ability to operate in the field. They believed you would be unwilling to work with us if you just knew." Jake said.

"That's fucking ridiculous." Palmer muttered, storming off.

"Think we handled that wrong?" Jake asked.

"No, what else were we supposed to do? She saw Levi was obviously not aged like the rest of us. And any lie would've been pointless and obviously a lie." Kelly responded.

* * *

Levi woke in the med bay of _Infinity_. Linda and Jake were both sitting in chairs nearby.

"Did we get the bastard?" He croaked.

"Yeah, thanks to you. He was very upset about his hand." Linda remarked. Levi couldn't help but laugh.

"I hope slicing off hands doesn't become a habit. I need my hands to control vehicles." Jake joked.

"So, where are Fred and Kelly?" Levi asked.

"Let's just say they are having a private conversation and leave it at that." Linda answered, rolling her eyes.

"Those two aren't going to drown us with PDA are they?" Levi whined.

"I hope not. It's very hard to shoot people when your visor is covered in vomit." Linda said with a light chuckle.

"Oh, and just so you know you're not getting off easy sitting in this med bay. You and I are going on a mission together tomorrow." She added.


	6. Chapter 6

"So absolutely zero killing? And we can't be detected? Why did I bring my guns then?" Levi asked as he and Linda walked atop a ridge to find the Storm Covenant's arms base.

"Because the Covenant use big guns themselves and if we do get caught it's better to have guns." Linda chuckled.

"I guess that's a good reason." Levi muttered.

"Of course it is; I'm the one who came up with it. Now hurry up!" Levi hastened his step and allowed the conversation to lull into silence. He knew that Linda was the quite one. Everyone did.

"There it is. You remember the directions on where you're supposed to go?" Linda asked as they looked down into the rocky grasslands below where the large covenant warehouse was. Levi noted the rather large amount of alien forces milling about below; most of them being elites.

"Yes, ma'am. Good luck." He answered before engaging his camo and heading off. He ducked behind a tower of crates, hiding in the boxes shadows as a trio of elites passed by, conversing in their foreign language. Once they were out of the way he sprinted across the pathway and dove into cover as a pair of jackals looked where he had been. He tossed a pebble across the yard, and smirked when the buzzards slunk off to investigate the pinging noise. He crept through the maze of crates until he was next to the building. His head twisted around the corner of the building to look at the door in, to see a pair of elites standing guard. He silently cursed before creeping off to find another way inside.

"There!" he whispered to himself as he saw a hatch on the roof. He kept a stream of silent curses going as he scaled the smooth metal surfaces of the wall to the roof. Once atop the building he dropped down through the hatch and the darkness within. He heard the growling of an elite behind him and spun around to uppercut it in the jaw. The elite fell backwards, unconscious. Levi crept off until he found the terminal he was supposed to find. He slid a data crystal into the terminal and started downloading the manifests for the supplies.

"Son of a bitch." He hissed.

"Linda, they've got HAVOK nukes that are scheduled to be shipped to refugees on Earth." He called over their encrypted radio channel.

"That changes the mission objective. When your manifests are done downloading find those nukes. We're going to arm them and blow this place to hell. Consider the no detection and no killing rules revoked." Linda answered. Levi practically yanked the data crystal out when it had finished and pulled out his battle rifle. He climbed atop a pile of crates and lay prone. The first three round burst from the rifle tore through a pair of elites walking side by side on the other end of the building. Alien screams, yells, and roars echoed throughout the space after the bark of the gunfire. Another squeeze of the trigger and a group of grunts and a jackal next to a fuel canister exploded, bits of alien guts and tech raining down nearby. An elite roared from below him and he rolled off the crates before the plasma grenade and fire scorched the location. He saw the flash of fire before him which was closely followed by the unmistakable crack of Linda's rifle. The sound of gurgling behind him confirmed his belief that the expert markswoman had just saved his ass from a cloaked elite. He ran forward, tearing the methane tank from a grunt and using it to bash in the face of its jackal companion. He turned left and dropped a frag grenade behind him as he continued deeper into the warehouse. When he found himself in a dead end from crates and the buildings wall he climbed atop the crates and ran along them above the confused Covenant forces. He was sure to drop grenades or shoot explosives when he passed by the larger groups.

"_Where are these damn nukes?_" he wondered. Seconds later he jumped onto a crate, which wobbled and toppled him to the ground with a loud grunt if surprise.

"Found the nukes!" he called. Levi quickly set to work, connecting the warheads to run in parallel and detonate together.

"They're armed. We should leave now." Linda's green light blinked and he ran to the doors and out into the light of the planets three moons. A NAV marker appeared on his HUD over a Phantom. He rushed onto the dropship to see Linda already sitting in the pilot's seat starting the vehicle up.

"You took forever showing up." She joked as he sat down in the co-pilot's seat.

"You were already on board by the time I had armed the nukes weren't you?"

"I can neither confirm nor deny that."

"So yes." Levi said and shook his head.

"Good job on the mission. Captain Del Rio said one of the data crystals had the location of one of the Halo's on it. Some other ships are taking over cleaning up the forces here and we're going to go clean up and set up a permanent station at the ring." Fred said as he entered Blue team's private rec room after his meeting with the captain.

"Any other interesting news?" Kelly asked as she walked up to him. Levi noted the fact that they were a little closer than any of the Spartans ever got with one another, especially out of combat. He looked over to see Linda with her book in her lap and making a playful gagging face behind the two. He smirked.

"Well, apparently someone high up back on Earth wants me to train some of the Spartan IV's for specialty close quarters and heavy action commando work. I'm supposed to take my pick of the IV's and have full command over them. I've even been asked to design an emblem and title for the group." Fred said. Kelly smiled and gave him an awkward hug before dragging him along to a couch. Only then did she look around to see the horrified faces of the others.

"What?" She asked.

"You hugged Fred. You _hugged_ him." Jake whispered.

"You've got a lot of learning to do still." She teased.


End file.
